Our local fires have raised many questions, including who ultimately pays for the damages caused and how are those damages measured. So far the debates I’ve read have pinpointed the potential payers or losers as PG&E ratepayers, taxpayers, utility shareholders, or the damaged property owners, if they are not fully insured. An important point in the equation is that when facilities owned by a utility (such as PG&E) are implicated in causing the damage, the utility is liable whether or not any fault on its part is involved.

In Ukiah, and its surrounding area, electrical distribution facilities are owned, or controlled, by governmental entities not PG&E. I don’t know, but assume, these public entities are subject to the same rules determining liability and measure of damages as apply to PG&E.

As I look at the forested and populated hills surrounding our valley- and breathe a sigh of relief that so far we’ve not experienced first hand the devastation being caused elsewhere by recent fires- I wonder if any thought is being given to the question of how homeowners, and other property owners, in our area, will be compensated if a fire is caused by a publicly owned utility other than PG&E.

The answer can have great significance, not only for damaged property owners, but also for all of those who rely on future payments (such as pensions) from the public agencies, i.e., the City of Ukiah, that own electrical facilities that may cause fires.